Mick Hucknall reflects on Simply Red’s glittering career

Karen Overton

One of Britain’s biggest soul sensations, Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall is currently basking in the glow of seeing their most-successful album, the

twelve-time certified platinum Stars, turn twenty-five years old.

“I could never have imagined that Stars would have the impact it did,” says the 56-year-old. “It’s always about the music. I have this abiding faith in the music and that will shine through when I’m dead and gone. I’m always trying to make music that will last a long time.”

To celebrate the milestone musical offering – which was the best-selling UK album for two consecutive years – Simply Red will be hitting the road, visiting venues all across the country, including Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena on November 23.

Despite having played over 100 shows in the past year, at locations across the globe, Hucknall is still amazed at “how fresh the whole thing felt” – a fact he

attributes to the quality of his fellow musicians.

“I’m really lucky to have an amazing band, we’re all on the same wavelength when it comes to putting on the best show possible,” he gushes. “We constantly push each other to perform at our best, to go above and beyond for the audience because at the end of the day, if the audience isn’t enjoying the show then we’re not doing our job properly!”

But after such a mammoth string of shows – “we’ve played racecourses, forests and a few castles” Hucknall laughs – the band have some surprises up their sleeve for their native fans, who have supported them since the beginning.

“Rather than just play the same songs we’ve been playing for the last year, we are going to introduce a few songs that we haven’t played for a while, a few fan favourites,” he explains. “There’ll be plenty of big Simply Red hits in the first half but maybe not the most obvious ones!”

And even after a quarter of a century, Hucknall is happy to see that the appetite for Simply Red’s smooth blue-eyed soul remains as healthy as ever.

“It’s been great seeing so many smiling faces in the crowd,” he exclaims. “We’ve also noticed on this tour a lot more young people coming to the shows; I guess some people are discovering our music for the first time on Spotify and YouTube.”